Newcastle United have offered Michael Owen the security of a three-year contract but are insisting the striker accepts a significant cut in his basic pay if he wants to stay at the club beyond next summer. Owen's representatives finally received a long-awaited written offer and Newcastle's captain is scheduled to discuss the prospective deal with Joe Kinnear, the interim manager, today.
Although a club source said it was "a very good offer" it is understood the Newcastle owner, Mike Ashley, is not prepared to commit to continue paying Owen a basic £105,000 a week past June. At the outset of this season the player's agent rejected a proposed one-year contract extension which would have reduced Owen's basic pay to £80,000 a week.
Theoretically, bonuses and add-ons could have boosted his salary well beyond the £100,000 mark but it is understood that triggering such clauses would have necessitated Owen playing in 80% of Newcastle's games and the team prospering. That is an appearance ratio he has never come near to achieving in his three-and-a-half seasons at St James' Park.
Although the latest offer features a longer deal, it is understood it would again involve Owen effectively accepting a reduction in basic salary of around 25%.While the striker has registered 29 goals in 51 starts since joining Newcastle from Real Madrid for £17m in 2005, Owen has spent long periods sidelined by injury and there remain nagging doubts about his vulnerable groin and hamstring areas.
Kinnear, well aware Owen's current four-year agreement expires in June and that the striker will be free to talk to other clubs when the January transfer window opens in just 16 days' time, is not overly optimistic the club's belated proposal will be accepted.
The manager claims Owen has "numerous options" — these are said to include Everton and Tottenham — but is adamant he will not let a striker vital to the team's efforts to avoid relegation leave Newcastle during January.
While he is currently valued at around £2m, by next summer the 29-year-old will be able to depart on a "Bosman" free transfer. It should not, however, be assumed that clubs will be queuing up to offer him anywhere near £100,000 a week. The current economic climate dictates that many are tightening budgets, and the player's injury record, age and specialised poaching game suggest Owen may have to settle for appreciably less.
Regardless of money, leaving Newcastle will be privately tempting as Owen's chances of reviving his treasured England career would be vastly enhanced by playing for a team involved in European competition. Equally the striker has spoken of the "turmoil" and "hysteria" surrounding the Tyneside club in the wake of Kevin Keegan's sacking, Ashley's decision to sell the club and Kinnear's short-term managerial appointment until the end of the season.
Keegan, meanwhile, was due to appear before an Premier League preliminary or "direction" tribunal hearing intended to assess his claim for compensation from Newcastle this week but this has now been postponed until after Christmas. Once the direction hearing takes place there will be a gap of two to three months before the full tribunal convenes but, before then, the matter could well be settled privately between Keegan and Ashley.
Sunderland are believed to have made no substantive progress in their hunt for a new manager and Ricky Sbragia is likely to remain in caretaker charge for Saturday's game at Hull. Sbragia could indeed be in control over the festive period because managers currently in employment are understood to be under serious consideration by Niall Quinn, Sunderland's chairman, who realises extricating them from such posts could prove both tricky and time-consuming.
